1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic media such as digital video files communicable over a network. More particularly it relates to a system for communicating playable videos over a network to customers of subscribing retailers, based on a relation thereof to the interests, buying habits, social and other ascertained customer information relating to each respective customer.
2. Prior Art
In recent years, with the significant increase in bandwidth abilities of network providers, and a concurrent increase in the number of computing devices accessing such broader bandwidth, the communication of digital video files between users and accessed by users from servers, has had a logarithmic increase. Whereas in previous years, where lack of carrier bandwidth, or lack of video playing functions of user devices, limited viewable depictions to individual photos and graphics, the plethora of available computing devices with access to high bandwidth networks in recent times has caused a significant increase in users accessing and sending videos over networks such as the internet.
The subject matter and content of such videos electronically sent, accessed and received by users on computing devices such as smartphones, tablet computers and even desktop computers, is conventionally subject matter of interest to individual users and their friends. Users having interests in particular subjects or causes or the like, will tend to send and receive and seek out digitally communicable video files which can be played and viewed upon their computing device of choice. On social media sites, users also tend to seek out and send and receive videos which concern a particular long term or short term interest of each respective user.
However, retailers for products and services to date, have not evolved in the presentation of graphic depictions in selling products and services on their online commerce sites. The vast majority of retailers and service providers still only communicate photos and single page graphic depictions to the display screen of potential customers. This is true even when such customers are repeat visitors to the retailer website.
As a consequence, customers for many retailers and service providers, who themselves may be viewing and be broadcasting videos on their smartphones, pad computers or the like, are viewing only single page photos and graphic depictions of the products they are considering for purchase from retailers, and a valuable selling tool is being lost.
The reasons for retailers and service providers failing to take advantage of video communications to potential and repeat customers are as many as the number of such retailers. While such retailers and service providers have access to broadband network connections with current and potential customers, they generally have an inability to ascertain the content of certain videos which may correlate to a costumer's interest in a particular product or service, in order to make the determination to send such a video to a customer. For example, manufactures of products such electronics might make videos available regarding many products in their line of goods. However absent the provision of a cross reference with the individual products and a provided video, retailers would be at a loss to match the provided video to customer interest in a product or line of products.
Additional video content concerning individual products and services is widely available from critics who rate many products and services in short videos for a living, to bloggers who are well educated regarding various products and services of interest to fellow bloggers, or potential buyers who have an interest in a product or service rated by a blogger, but unknown to the customer, and/or to the product retailer or service provider because it is the speaking content of the video which generally lacks metatags there about, which relates to the product or service or customer interest.
As a consequence, potential and returning customers to the online commerce websites of retailers and service providers, are not provided with video snippets and short presentations which better inform them about particular products, which could help them make an immediate decision as to a purchase. Likewise, retailers of products and service providers for services, lacking the ability to provide current and potential customers relevant video shorts and snippets concerning various products and services determined of interest to customers, and lacking the ability to gather such videos and make such customer relational connections, lose a valuable sales tool.
Thus, retailers lose sales which they probably could have closed with customers, because of this failure to communicate a video of interest to the customer and relating to the product which might have closed the sale, was not presented. Further, such retailers will continue to fail to take advantage of the power of video information when presented to potential customers to close the sale and continue to lose many sales which may have been captured if the customer had the opportunity to better review product information in one or a plurality of related videos which might have been provided to them.
As such their exists an unmet need for a method for the gathering of videos of different subject content concerning products and services, from widely disparate sources which are viewable by customers visiting product retailer and service provider websites. Such a system should be able to ascertain and identify such gathered videos as associated with one or a plurality of products or services available for purchase by customers on the website of a retailer or service provider. Such a method or system should be able to identify individual customers and maintain a database on their likes and dislikes and interests and other data for which each buyer would find a video interesting. Such a system should be able to gather and electronically store such videos from such a wide variety of sources, concerning or relating to each product or service, and save such with identifiers related thereto which are employable to match each such video, to either a product or service or of interest to an individual buyer or combinations thereof, so as to provide retailers and service sellers the ability to display and otherwise communicate such videos to customers or potential customers.
The forgoing examples of related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive, and they do not imply any limitations on the exercise device and method described and claimed herein. Various limitations of the related art are already known or will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the specification below and the accompanying drawings.
An object of the present invention is to provide a system for gathering playable videos concerning products or services from a wide variety of sources, and to electronically review and associate each such video with a video identifier which is cross referenced in an association to one or a plurality of products or services which may be stored and later provided in relation to individual buyers in a database of such buyers.
It is another object of the invention to electronically host, or provide electronic communication of such videos in digital format playable on computing devices of customers for products or services, based on ascertained interests of such customers, or based on ascertained relationships of such videos to products or services to which customers have input an interest.